Eye of the Day - Mata Hari

Frank Turner's Tales From No Man's Land

Somethin' Else

History

4.8 • 674 Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2019

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode is about the woman known as Mata Hari, which in the Malay language means Eye of The Day. Mata rose to fame as an exotic dancer in the early 20th Century and was one of the most connected socialites in Europe. However, during the First World War she was accused of being a spy and executed by firing squad. She's perhaps one of the most well-known women featured on Tales from No Man's Land and is often cited as the archetypal Femme Fatale in art and film, yet very little is known about her actual life. Frank speaks to film historian Pamela Hutchinson about the legacy of Mata Hari, and the woman behind the myth.

You can buy and stream Frank's album No Man's Land here

This episode was produced by Hayley Clarke and the executive producer was Peggy Sutton. There was additional production from Paul Smith, Steve Ackerman, Josh Gibbs and Charlie Caplowe. Tales from No Man’s Land is produced by Frank Turner, Xtra Mile Recordings and Somethin’ Else.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Frank Turner.
0:09.3	Welcome to Tales from No Man's Land, a podcast that accompanies my album, No Man's Land.
0:14.9	It's about 13 women from history, who you probably haven't heard of, but definitely should have.
0:20.4	Their stories are fascinating,
0:22.0	moving, funny, and most importantly, worth celebrating and sharing. This episode of my podcast
0:32.2	is about a woman who had many different names. Called me Margaratha the day I was born.
0:40.6	She was best known as Matahari, which in the Malaysian language means the sun, or literally,
0:46.3	the eye of the day.
0:48.0	But her real name was Margarita Zella.
0:53.3	Circuses and palaces are hundred names I've born
0:57.4	from the bell of the e-pop to the eye of the storm.
1:05.5	If anybody asks, I name myself after the sun.
1:12.6	She was a Dutch school teacher who got married and moved to the East Indies
1:16.6	and then fled her abusive marriage to become an exotic dancer
1:19.6	in the top salons in Paris in the early 20th century.
1:23.6	To the East Indies and warm, warm sun.
1:30.6	At the end of her life, she was accused of being a spy for the Germans in the First World War by the French,
1:35.7	and was actually executed by a French firing squad for espionage.
1:39.9	And in some ways, Matahari is the best known of the 13 women that I've written songs about.
1:44.6	Movies have been made about her, and she's said to have inspired many classic femme fatal characters.
1:49.6	But one of the things that I find interesting about her is that nobody really knew the real her, not even in her own lifetime.
1:55.5	To find out more about Matahari and her legacy, I talked to the film historian, Pamela Hutchinson.
	...

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